Technical Reference • 7 min read
Urdu diacritical marks, called harakat (حرکات), are the small symbols written above or below letters to indicate vowel sounds and other pronunciation features. Most everyday Urdu text omits them entirely, relying on the reader's knowledge of vocabulary. But they appear consistently in the Quran, children's textbooks, poetry, and any text where precise pronunciation matters. This reference covers every mark with its name, function, and Unicode value.
Zabar, also called fatha in Arabic, is a small diagonal stroke written above a letter. It represents a short "a" vowel sound, as in the "a" of "cat." Example: the "ba" syllable in بَ is the letter ba (ب) with zabar above it, producing the sound "ba."
Zer, also called kasra, is a small diagonal stroke written below a letter. It represents a short "i" vowel sound, as in the "i" of "sit." Example: بِ is ba with zer, producing the sound "bi."
Pesh, also called damma, is a small hook-like mark written above a letter. It represents a short "u" vowel sound, as in the "u" of "put." Example: بُ is ba with pesh, producing the sound "bu."
Shadda is a small "w"-shaped mark written above a letter. It indicates that the consonant is doubled, meaning the sound is held or emphasized, similar to the double letters in English "egg" or "apple." Shadda often appears in combination with a vowel mark, for example shadda-zabar (ـَّ) indicates a doubled consonant followed by an "a" vowel.
Sukun is a small circle written above a letter. It indicates that the letter is a "bare" consonant with no following vowel, marking a syllable-closing consonant. It helps readers identify word boundaries and syllable structure in texts where vowel marking is otherwise incomplete.
The superscript alef is a small alef written above a letter to indicate a long "aa" vowel sound in certain specific words, most commonly in Quranic orthography. It appears in the word اللّٰه (Allah) where the superscript alef above the lam indicates the long vowel sound that standard spelling conventions don't represent in the base letters.
Tanwin marks represent the "nunation" or nasal final vowels in classical Arabic: tanwin fath (ً, double zabar) represents "-an", tanwin damm (ٌ, double pesh) represents "-un", and tanwin kasr (ٍ, double zer) represents "-in". These marks appear extensively in Arabic grammar and in Quranic text, but are less common in modern Urdu usage than in Arabic.
If you need to strip all diacritical marks from a piece of text, our Diacritic Remover tool removes the full Unicode range of combining marks in one click, leaving only the base letters. Our Unicode Inspector shows you exactly which diacritical marks are present in any specific text.
Despite their importance in theory, harakat are rarely used in everyday Urdu writing, in stark contrast to Arabic where diacritics are more consistently applied in formal texts. Most Urdu print, including newspapers, books, and websites, omits harakat entirely and relies on readers using contextual knowledge to determine correct pronunciation. Diacritics do appear in specific contexts: Quranic text and religious materials almost always include full harakat; children's readers and beginner's Urdu learning materials use them to support pronunciation; and poetry is sometimes printed with harakat to preserve the intended metrical reading. Understanding this distribution explains why removing diacritics (using our Diacritic Remover tool) often makes Urdu text look more like standard everyday print rather than less formal.
In calligraphy, diacritical marks are themselves a calligraphic element that adds visual texture and complexity to a composition. Quranic calligraphy rendered with full harakat has a visual density quite different from the same text without them, and skilled calligraphers treat the placement and size of each diacritic mark as a deliberate compositional choice rather than a purely linguistic one. This is one area where the art of calligraphy and the mechanics of the script overlap most directly.